A Close Look At Dashboard Confessional’s Alter The Ending

AN INTERVIEW WITH LEAD SINGER CHRIS CARRABBA

Making the Album

The record was a longer journey to make it, but it was definitely the most fun I’ve had making a record, because I didn’t know where it was going for a change.

At the beginning of the record it was almost like a struggle of faith. I was looking for an answer that I sort of expected to be given to me. I think (I realized) by the end of the record, and the last song that details it, that you don’t get an answer. You’re not really supposed to get an answer and no one’s supposed to give you what you’re looking for. You’re just supposed to come to the right place in your own time.

“Belle of the Boulevard”

When we made “Belle of the Boulevard”, on my demo I have some pretty awful string arrangement that I did, so the idea of having a string arrangement was there from pretty early on. I just assumed Johnny, our guitar player, would come up with something orchestral, but the more we talked about it we realized that there’s something with strings that they can be saccharine, you know, they can be in the way and Butch (Walker) suggested that if we took it to somebody who is a master of that craft, it would fit without ever being the focus and that’s now my favorite part of the song. Tony Visconti, is a legendary string arranger, you know, he’s worked with Bowie – everybody knows this guy. And so that was the benefit of working with Butch, where he has friendships and relationships with people. Never in a million years would it occur to me that we could get him (Tony Visconti) to make an arrangement for us. Butch turns and calls him on the phone: “Can you do this? I’ll send you the song.” Tony called back an hour later: “I love this song. I’ll have it to you tomorrow. ”

Growing up around music

I don’t really remember any time in my life without music. My mom’s a musician. She’s phenomenal. We grew up without much means, but one thing we did have in the house was a piano. So it was constantly amazing to hear music in our house all day long, all day, all day, all day. My mother loved music as a music fan. So either she was playing the piano or she was playing records. You don’t even realize that it influences you until you realize that you actually look at your- like in the moment, as you’re having a life experience, you realize that there is a soundtrack in there somewhere, because there was music going on. So sometimes I’ll hear a Beach Boys song and suddenly I’m in that apartment again. I know exactly what I was doing at the time when I heard that the first time, or the most important time I heard it.

The band configuration of Dashboard Confessional

The puzzle of my band: it consists of many pieces, but always consists of the same four guys for many years now. There’s John Lefler, who plays guitar, piano and kind of everything, and Scott Schoenbeck, who plays bass and Mike Marsh plays drums. And myself. And then we have tons of friends who join us when they can and we’re open for it. That was the idea in the beginning of the band. When I started it by myself, all my friends are musicians and I wanted to play with all of them. So I thought if I called it by my own name, without a band name, that it would be too exclusive. They wouldn’t feel invited in. But I thought if I gave it a band name they could be in the band if they were there that night.

There are times when we tour as a band and there are times when I tour by myself or maybe just with Johnny. Those times when your music is more exposed are important. But they’re both vital experiences.

“Alter The Ending” is not a concept record in that if you listen to the songs in order you’ll know the story. It was a struggle to find an order that didn’t tell the wrong story. So I would sequence them. I didn’t know what feeling I was looking for. I didn’t know what I wanted to feel, having heard the whole record in sequence. I just knew I wasn’t getting that feeling. And at some point you have to trust your gut, you know. So I must have sequenced it every way that you could possibly do it, only knowing what the first and last songs were going to be.

So I knew that I knew the story, had a beginning and a last chapter and somewhere in the middle was the meat of it. And if told out of order, it would become the wrong ending. So somehow I managed to find what I hope is the right order. I get the feeling even now when I listen to it over again that it’s right. I know what I’m supposed to feel.”

Get to know the band and the stories behind their hits even more by experiencing them up close during the Behind the Music with Dashboard Confessional to be held at the GLORIETTA ACTIVITY CENTER on May 26, 2010 5:00 p.m. Event goers shall get the chance to interact with the band and have their copies of Alter The Ending signed! Only the first 100 CD buyers can participate in the album signing session. Selling shall begin at the Activity Center at 11:00 a.m.

The next day, get ready to experience the music of Dashboard Confessional during their live concert at the new hub of international acts at the Mindanao Open Parking of Trinoma, May 27, 2010, show starts at 8:00 p.m.

As a special treat, the newest, biggest, and most forceful rock band in the country, FRANCO will pump up and set the stage with their pure, raw, unadulterated music! Not long after they broke into the music scene, the band has already managed to impress and capture the interest of various critics and audiences with their dynamic blend of smashing lines, throbbing beats and melodic sound. The undeniable musical talent radiating from each band member is insurmountable; hailing FRANCO as the band to change the landscape of rock! Comprised of Gabby Alipe & Janjan Mendoza of Urbandub on guitars & drums, Ocho Toleran of Quezo on guitars, Buwi Meneses of Parokya ni Edgar on bass and Franco Reyes of Inyo on guitars & vocals. FRANCO vows to deliver nothing but sheer exhilaration with their music! Featuring their singles “Castaway”, and “This Gathering,” their self-titled release under MCA Music is out to give crowds a rocking experience! With an ALL-ORIGINAL album, other cyclonic tracks include “Seasons”, “ Next Train Out”, “Memory Kill”, “This Gathering” and more! Get ready to experience rock/alternative at its core with all original material and get a first hand look of the newest band to take the country by storm.

Call The Concierge at 901 – 3000 or Ticketworld at 891-9999 for more information.

The new album of Dashboard Confessional, Alter the Ending is available in a special Limited International Edition that includes five acoustic tracks plus a bonus acoustic video. Get your copies now at Odyssey, Astrovision and Music One stores!

To get all the hits of Dashboard Confessional on your mobile and to get the chance to score some tickets for the concert,

TEXT DB to 3456

To search for other Dashboard Confessional mobile songs on GLOBE,

TEXT Dashboard Confessional to 2222

Join MCA Music on facebook at www.facebook.com/mcamusic and get the latest updates plus gain access to exclusives prizes and promos!

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Pinay Ads is a lifestyle/mommy blog founded on August 2008. Created to share bits and pieces of my life and family, Pinay Ads also has a wide array of interests including entertainment, gadgets, travelling, food, and many others.